Effective response of periodic micropolar elastic structures with hollow fibers

Abstract

In this work, the effective behavior of periodic micropolar elastic structures with hollow fibers is investigated using the two-scale asymptotic homogenization method (AHM). The micropolar elastic structures are modeled as a two-phase uniaxial fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) defined by an isotropic and centro-symmetric micropolar matrix with periodically arranged hollow fibers. The governing equations are formulated within the micropolar elasticity framework, considering antiplane-strain deformation states. The antiplane local problems derived from AHM are stated, and explicit formulations are derived for the corresponding effective stiffness and torque properties. The influence of the spatial distribution of hollow fibers on the overall effective properties is analyzed. Numerical results are obtained for different parallelogram arrays of hollow fibers embedded in syntactic foam and dense polyurethane foam matrices. The findings show the effect of microstructure on the effective behavior of the composite and provide insight into the design and optimization of micropolar elastic composites with improved mechanical properties.